درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

The present study was undertaken to investigate the effects of varying frequency patterns (FPs) of words on the productive acquisition of a young EFL learner in a home setting. Target words were presented to the learner using games and role plays. They were subsequently traced for their frequencies in input and output. Eighteen immediate tests and delayed tests were administered to measure the oral production following the treatments. To examine the efficacy of varying FPs, target words were grouped into four sets: High Input/High Output (HIHO), Low Input/Low Output (LILO), High Input/Low Output (HILO), and Low Input/High Output (LIHO). The findings revealed that the differences among the FPs were statistically significant. Meanwhile, Wilcoxon signed-rank test identified a significant discrepancy between the words with LILO and HIHO frequency patterns. The findings demonstrated that the differences in FPs led to different productive gains, and higher word production cropped up when words occurred very frequently both in input and output. This study shows that higher teacher talk in tandem with higher learner talk could boost lexical production by a young learner in meaning-focused instructions.

Although L2 writing has attracted salient attention and monopolized many studies in EFL contexts, there is still no full image of its complicated nature.  Trying to play a supplementary role in achieving that image, this study aimed at finding whether Persian and English argumentative and descriptive academic writings were inter/intra-lingually associated and if genre played a role in provoking any differences in the means of total scores obtained from the essays. In so doing, 50 Iranian senior MA TEFL students at the intermediate level were asked to write down two argumentative and two descriptive essays in Persian and English. Each essay was assessed against IELTS task 2 writing band descriptors. Then, the data were analyzed through the Pearson product-moment correlation and paired-samples <em>t</em>-test. The results revealed there were significant positive correlations between the total scores obtained from Persian and English argumentative and descriptive essays. The findings supported the existence of a common underlying proficiency (Cummins, 1980), out of which L1 and L2 writing skills emerged. The results also illustrated there were significant differences between the means of some of the total scores. It was supposed these differences might be due to the possible genre-sensitive nature of common underlying proficiency.

The current study sought to explore the impact of SFL-oriented register instruction on Iranian EFL learner’ writing performance with a central focus on their English proficiency level. As its secondary aim, the study delved deeply into the learners’ perception of the register-based instruction. To these ends, 50 intermediate and 50 advanced Iranian EFL learners were selected randomly and assigned to four groups: two experimental and two control groups. Employing an experimental pretest/posttest design, the learners of the two experimental groups received instruction on the three components of register; that is, field, tenor, and mode along with the implementation of a three-phase teaching/learning cycle, whereas the learners in the control groups were exposed to a conventional writing instruction. Quantitative analysis of the learners’ writing performance on the pre- and posttest measures revealed the contributory role of register instruction in improving Iranian EFL learners’ writing performance, regardless of their English proficiency level. Furthermore, having been surveyed through a researcher-made questionnaire, the advanced and intermediate learners expressed their positive attitude towards the instruction. The findings highlighted the necessity of superseding the traditional linguistic-based writing instruction by a contextual and situational teaching methodology similar to what has been implemented in the current study.

Translation is a process which needs concentration and a relaxed mind. Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental disorder which causes the patients to repeat something continuously so that it is done in the best way. As both translation and OCD are mental processes, this study has investigated the relation between these two mental processes. For this purpose, at first Oxford Placement Test was given to 100 advanced university translation students. Then, 40 participants who were at the same level of language proficiency were given Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCD) test to check the degree of their disorder. They were then asked to translate a chosen text. The rater suggested 40 minutes for the translation of this text and asked the participants to estimate the duration of their translation. The data were then studied based on Holmes’s map of translation studies (Holmes 1988). The results showed that OCD affects both translation accuracy and translation time. The findings of this research makes translators informed that mental processes can affect translation processes. In fact, translators with OCD need more time for translation, which causes some problems in cases when urgent translation is needed. Based on the results of this study, it is clear that translators with OCD problems are not reliable for translation tasks.

This study attempts to assess the potential use of AREL in English song activities as a learning method to improve the students’ ability in argumentation and English proficiency. AREL – stands for Assertion, Reason, Evidence, Link back has long been introduced as a basic structure for argument construction. Learning AREL has been a major challenge for the beginner debaters, not to mention their constraints in English proficiency. The data received in this study were analysed by means of frequency, percentage, and standard deviation. The students highly believed that the method used in this study was interesting ( =3.79 SD=0.860) and comfortable ( =3.86 SD=0.639), in which it indicates the enjoyable learning process and the absence of the students’ anxiety. Furthermore, this method was able to give a quick comprehension ( =4.00 SD=0.654) on AREL, where applying AREL in song analysis was easier for the students, thus allow the students to gradually step up onto the real argumentation. That could be observed by the average test score where students obtained higher score for analysing song with AREL ( =80) than for making real argumentation with AREL ( =70). However, in order to make this method effective, the students’ attendance was a mandatory. Though no test on English proficiency conducted, nevertheless most of the students agreed that this method helped them improving their English proficiency, which included vocabularies ( =4.64 SD=0.610) and figurative language ( =4.50 SD=0.500) competencies.

Whether acknowledged or neglected by educators, the hidden curriculum is present in every institute. Therefore, studying the hidden curriculum is essential to understand how it functions within an English language institute’s setting and among those within it. The purpose of this study was to design and validate a scale to measure language teachers’ perspectives on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) hidden curriculum by the application of the Rasch model. The review of the literature indicated the lack of sufficient research on the investigation of EFL hidden curriculum components in the view of EFL teachers. To fill the existing gap in the literature, a 40-item questionnaire was devised and validated, then 164 Iranian EFL teachers, teaching at different language institutes were asked to reply to the questionnaire. In this study, hidden curriculum components were based on Saylor, Alexander, and Lewis’ (1981) perspectives. Accordingly, items were classified into three different constructs, namely the social atmosphere (including 15 items), the organizational structure of the English Language Institute (consisting of 14 items), and the interaction between teachers and learners (including 11 items). The results showed that the questionnaire items fitted the Rasch model after removing six items from the scale. Moreover, it was confirmed that the scale enjoyed suitable reliability. This proposes that the questionnaire is potentially valid and can be used as a measure of EFL hidden curriculum. One of the study implications is that the questionnaire designed and validated in this study can be used as a research tool in future research to assist policymakers and material designers, institutions’ administrators, and language teachers to be considered for future decision making, and designing materials. It also can be used as a research tool to measure the relationship between EFL hidden curriculum and other variables in future research.

This study examined the effect of two types of feedback, post-text as a written feedback and recast as an oral one on written grammatical accuracy of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To this end, 45 intermediate students who were studying at Ideal Language Institute in Sari were selected based on their performance on the Nelson proficiency test, and then divided into three groups (two experimental and one control groups) randomly. As pretest, the participants were asked to write 150-200 words about the worst memory they had in their life. Then, they were exposed to 10 weeks of treatment. Each week, they received a topic to write. One of the experimental groups received post-text feedback and another one recast. Afterwards, the three groups sat for the posttest. The obtained results were compared using ANCOVA. The findings revealed that there was a significant difference between the post-test scores of the students in different groups. It was made clear that both treatments were effective on the reduction of students grammatical errors in writing, but post-text feedback was much more effective than recast.

در این مقاله، اصل صرفه جویی در گفتار به عنوان یک قانون جهان شمول در زبان شناسی تجزیه و تحلیل می شود. صرفه جویی در مصرف انرژی به هنگام گفتار معمولاً در مواردی عینیت پیدا می کند که گوینده ناگزیر است دو واحد زبانی نامتقارن با هم را در گفتار خود به کار گیرد. موضوع اصلی بحث در این مقاله، پدیده زبانی تلفیق است که به وضوح در گروه زبان های هند و اروپایی و به ویژه در زبان های روسی و انگلیسی دیده می شود. نگارنده در این پژوهش مانند بسیاری از زبان شناسان بر این باور است که وجود دوگانگی نامتقارن در نشانه های زبانی، موجب پیشرفت و پویایی نظام زبان می شود. پدیده تلفیق به عنوان نتیجه و نمادی از کارکرد اصل صرفه جویی در گفتار، در ساختارهای نحوی همه زبان های دنیا یک اصل تأثیرگذار است. بر اساس نتایج به دست آمده، گویندگان استفاده از پدیده زبانی، تلفیق واحدهای زبانی با یکدیگر را بهترین شیوه برای صرفه جویی در مصرف انرژی و زمان گفتار می دانند. این واحدهای زبانی ممکن است از نظر معنایی به طور همزمان با نهاد و گزاره در زنجیره گفتار مرتبط باشند و از نظر مورفولوژیکی نیز ساختمانی شبیه ترکیب و گروه واژه داشته باشند.

Abstracts are well-accepted as the clarity and fidelity of language in any article assists the readership to get the central points of the research in a brief l but effective manner. Meanwhile, as a significant feature of any piece of discourse, meta-discourse markers can effectively render article texts more reader-friendly and coherent. The present study aims at investigating the extent to which English and Persian sections of Law articles are cross-culturally similar or different in applying metadiscourse markers. To this end, 80 articles, 40 in each language, were carefully selected from Law articles published from 2010 to 2015 in online archives of leading journals. The selected corpora were analyzed through the models suggested by Hyland and Tse (2004) and Hyland (2005) to find out the type, number, and frequency of the markers, respectively. The findings of the study revealed that English authors enlisted a larger number of metadiscourse markers than their Persian counterparts; Persian authors, on the other hand, employed larger number of transitions among others. Such observed differences may stem from the culture-specific application and organization of discourse followed by diverse nationalities and norms.